IMO, the big problem with poorly-synced teams is that the riders aren't in sync with how they modulate their efforts. I.e. if I'm captaining the tandem, I might want to increase the team power output to 150% of the team's combined sustainable power to close up a gap or power up a short hill. If my stoker keeps his power output at 100%, I might have to surge to 200% to close the gap. So I'm killing myself, really going anaerobic and wearing myself out extra quick, when if we both upped our power output to 150%, we could close the gap without "burning so many matches".